The unemployment rate in million-plus cities stood at 4.9% in 2025 compared with 4.7% in other urban areas. However, the jobless rate in these larger cities has steadily declined from 5.8% in 2021-22 and 7.9% in 2017-18.
Labour force participation was marginally higher in million-plus cities at 52.4%, compared with 52.1% in the rest of urban India. The participation rate has increased from 47.7% in 2017-18, driven in part by a rise in female labour force participation to 27.2% from 19.8% over the same period.
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The report also highlights a distinct employment profile in larger cities. Nearly three in five workers (58.5%) were employed in regular salaried jobs in 2025, significantly higher than 42.9% in other urban areas. Employment in transport, storage and communication accounted for 13.6% of workers, compared with 9.2% elsewhere, while other services employed 31.5% of workers against 24.1% in the rest of urban India.
In contrast, casual labour accounted for just 6.3% of employment in million-plus cities, less than half the 14.4% recorded in other urban areas. Agriculture employed only 1.6% of workers in larger cities, compared with 10.1% elsewhere.
Million-plus cities are defined as urban centres with a population of at least one million under the 2011 Census, covering 46 cities including Bengaluru, Greater Visakhapatnam, Patna, Ahmedabad, Nashik, Ludhiana, Chennai, Meerut and Varanasi. Non-million-plus urban areas comprise all other urban centres in the country.Workers in larger cities also earned more across all employment categories. Self-employed workers reported average earnings of Rs 30,858 during the previous 30 days, compared with Rs 23,013 in urban India overall.
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Regular salaried employees earned an average of Rs 28,808 during the month, against Rs 26,258 in other urban areas, while casual labourers earned Rs 624 per day compared with Rs 550.
“Both male and female workers in million-plus cities reported higher average hours of work than workers in urban India across broad status in employment,” the report said.
The report also found that 22.2% of young people aged 15-29 years in million-plus cities were not in employment, education or training (NEET) under the usual status, lower than the 25% recorded across urban India.